Bon sua! (Good evening!) We are in balmy Haiti, sitting in the guest house feeling refreshed, while several of our group are back in surgery. Who knows when they will be back! Dr Rudolph, Dorothy, Eric and Candace are taking care of a pt who was in a motorcycle accident.
Monday our group divided up for the work day, following the Doctors and Nurses, and learning what their daily routine is. It took a little time to adjust to the Haitian culture and hospital system. Dr. Rich Schock and Lanette rounded with the 3 Haitian Doctors in the morning and saw patients in clinic in the afternoon. Joan and David helped the nurses in the general surgery ward, changing dressings and IV’s. Candace and Janella followed their nurse Sina in the Internal Medicine unit, doing dressing changes, and learning how to order xrays and labs. Shiela and Nicole organized the pharmacy/supply room and helped us find supplies. Eric’s great discovery of the day was an EKG machine, heart monitors, and vital machines. Eric told us how the hand saw broke while the surgeon amputated a patient’s leg. L
The hospital has room for 120 beds, and there are apx 55 patients admitted right now. There is one nurse to about 20 patients, with no CNA’s to help. Families stay with the patients and do a lot of their basic care, and bring in their meals. A lot of the patients have multiple traumas due to the motorcycle wrecks and other accidents. Lots of amputations and lots of wounds. Some medical, but there are not as many diagnostics available as we are used to, so we are having to “make it work” or do without. Most labs are sent to Port au Prince, and it takes one month to get the levels back! The length of a patient’s stay is usually several months, probably due to the lack of modern care and conveniences. We learned that the patients have to pay for their x-rays before they are done. Way different than the US, but we are not in the states! We are trying to help where we can….
I think of a few years ago when a medical group tried to do clinic with three medical personnel, two interpreters, about 500 patients; only multivitamins, prenatal pills, ten antibiotics and worm medication. All I could do was tell them they had a medical problem and they needed to see a doctor, knowing they would walk out the door and not be able to afford basic health care. All I could hope was that we could have a hospital where surgeries could correct problems, medications could be administered, doctors could treat, and patients could have continued care. So thankful that God is answering this prayer!
As we continue to adjust to the Haitian culture and try to nudge them toward the modern, we learn there are things that are amazing to their hospital system and must not be changed. Which one of us goes to chapel for a service before starting our work day? Who sings a hymn with their coworkers before their staff meeting? This is Haiti, and this is a blessing. May God bless the patients who suffer quietly, the doctors and nurses who work so hard, the missionaries who give of their lives, and all you at home who are praying for us.
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